Hey nerds! In this video, I wanted to talk a bit about last week's video and go more in-depth regarding Nadu. magic.wizards.... magic.wizards.... Discord: / discord
Cool vid! Couple of notes for anyone watching or BRBMTG At 0:26 he says commander I believe he meant modern and at 0:50 he says modern when I believe he meant commander. Not huge mistakes but the fact that there were two in short succession did confuse me for a sec cuz I was unsure which side was arguing what. Anyhow, glad Nadu finally caught the hammer ;)
Honestly, it's kind of hilarious that the reason for all this was someone being too worried the original Nadu concept was too powerful for Commander just because it granted flash to your permanents, and now the consensus seems to be that Commander players seem to actually like the original card design more than the final.
What's bizarre to me is how Nadu is worded, specifically the line "this ability triggers only twice each turn". Obviously someone involved realized that spamming the ability could be a problem, but the gave it the most half hearted and awkward limitation they could. Like, why not use the far more common once each turn? Or just have Nadu create the trigger so that it was a global limitation? I think the problem was the note about "wanting the card to have a home". I've heard experienced card designers talk about how wanting your cards to be powerful leads to mistakes, and doubly so when you don't have time to test. Overall, I think Nadu was a very avoidable mistake.
Maro stated in his blogpost about Nadu that they seperate design teams on a set between ones designing cards for comp and ones for casual. In addition, he stated that printing cards for commander comes with the cards within the set designed for casual play and not to be meta relevant. Personally, I think a lot of the issue is failing to find a design balance in cases like Nadu. The last minute changes were done to make the card more enjoyable than just giving everything flash, blindsighted to the effects it would have on modern. Reinfornced by lack of testing. The key is really to strike a balance with cards like these things kinda like what youre saying. If its gonna be in a non-commander set it should be printed with great care and awareness of that fact.
The systemic problem at wizards is that they don't have the manpower to test things half as much as they should nowadays because of the sheer volume of cards being printed and the FIRE design. They are clearly understaffed/over-crunched.
It’s really bizarre how commander players keep denying that they are extremely catered to at the expense of other formats. It’s so self-evidently the case.
I think this is the first time I've fully agreed with someone in a long time, At every instance in your video, the point you were making or issue you were bringing up is exactly what I would have thought or said. Hope to see more videos and see your channel grow.
I think the intention of changing the card because it would be problematic in commander is good despite the outcome of nadu obviously being bad. For example they've previously made commander specific cards with mechanics like initiative and they didn't pay enough attention to how these would affect other formats which they also happened to be legal in. I think if a card will see play in a format, then the balance team should make sure it doesn't warp the format whether or not the format is the one the card is specifically based around. (Im just being pedantic tho! I do agree it's an issue that there's a bit too much commander favouritism going on in card design)
Kinda wish they would just errata it with a new printing that made it only apply to spells targeting it and not abilities but that’s just a dream unfortunately
Weird how they made this stupid bird and didnt notice zero mana interactions that would trigger him... When lightning greaves is like the most popular card in commander...
I do not think that it is excusable that what's apparently _multiple people_ paid as professionals to design cards for the tcg did not at _all_ consider free ability activations to target Nadu. Either it is a lie that multiple people saw the card, or they are so understaffed and overworked that they cannot do their Jobs properly anymore. Sure, this is 'just' one massive mistake. But Chrysalis for draft was another abomination - one of, if not _the_ highest winrate card in limited at common. Truly, it does seem as if balance is entirely slippong from their repertoire.
The easiest ways to guarantee your card has a home are to make it unique and to make it intricate, not to simply make it powerful. "Ramp or draw whenever you do basically anything" is so generic it's basically a non card in terms of deckbuilding.
Post 2020 Magic is garbage. WotC don't care about the game. They just want to make a quick profit for the shareholders and that's all. For all we know, as soon as the game turns non-profitable, they will discontinue it. My only advice would be to stop playing competitively. Your chances of making it to the big scene are abysmal, so instead of spending 1000 dollars on a competitive deck that will be worthless in a couple of years, spend half the money, build 10 different low-power decks and play with your friends as much as you like.
Cool vid! Couple of notes for anyone watching or BRBMTG
At 0:26 he says commander I believe he meant modern and
at 0:50 he says modern when I believe he meant commander.
Not huge mistakes but the fact that there were two in short succession did confuse me for a sec cuz I was unsure which side was arguing what.
Anyhow, glad Nadu finally caught the hammer ;)
Thank you! I recorded this at 6am so def goofed.
Video made my eyes cross multiple times trying to understand what mans is actually saying
My bad! 6am recording will do that lol I swear my other videos are way more coherent.
Honestly, it's kind of hilarious that the reason for all this was someone being too worried the original Nadu concept was too powerful for Commander just because it granted flash to your permanents, and now the consensus seems to be that Commander players seem to actually like the original card design more than the final.
Right?! It’s was such a better designed commander before. This is just a PITA to track and is hella pushed
What's bizarre to me is how Nadu is worded, specifically the line "this ability triggers only twice each turn". Obviously someone involved realized that spamming the ability could be a problem, but the gave it the most half hearted and awkward limitation they could. Like, why not use the far more common once each turn? Or just have Nadu create the trigger so that it was a global limitation? I think the problem was the note about "wanting the card to have a home". I've heard experienced card designers talk about how wanting your cards to be powerful leads to mistakes, and doubly so when you don't have time to test. Overall, I think Nadu was a very avoidable mistake.
It was 100% avoidable and if this mistake is made, which will happen cause humans gonna human, WOTC needs to be much faster at addressing it.
Maro stated in his blogpost about Nadu that they seperate design teams on a set between ones designing cards for comp and ones for casual. In addition, he stated that printing cards for commander comes with the cards within the set designed for casual play and not to be meta relevant.
Personally, I think a lot of the issue is failing to find a design balance in cases like Nadu. The last minute changes were done to make the card more enjoyable than just giving everything flash, blindsighted to the effects it would have on modern. Reinfornced by lack of testing. The key is really to strike a balance with cards like these things kinda like what youre saying. If its gonna be in a non-commander set it should be printed with great care and awareness of that fact.
Look at this mad lad getting involved in UA-cam drama
I mean they literally said it was for commander so there's that
The systemic problem at wizards is that they don't have the manpower to test things half as much as they should nowadays because of the sheer volume of cards being printed and the FIRE design. They are clearly understaffed/over-crunched.
The problem of WOTC is not on its personal staff its the greed.
OP cards are for selling boosters. Not for actual play.
It’s really bizarre how commander players keep denying that they are extremely catered to at the expense of other formats. It’s so self-evidently the case.
I think it’s players who have only played commander and aren’t aware how catered to they are
Trouble is, many commander players hate it too haha
True!
I think this is the first time I've fully agreed with someone in a long time, At every instance in your video, the point you were making or issue you were bringing up is exactly what I would have thought or said. Hope to see more videos and see your channel grow.
Love to hear that! Thanks! Growing slowly but steady.
I think the intention of changing the card because it would be problematic in commander is good despite the outcome of nadu obviously being bad. For example they've previously made commander specific cards with mechanics like initiative and they didn't pay enough attention to how these would affect other formats which they also happened to be legal in. I think if a card will see play in a format, then the balance team should make sure it doesn't warp the format whether or not the format is the one the card is specifically based around. (Im just being pedantic tho! I do agree it's an issue that there's a bit too much commander favouritism going on in card design)
If they had just put it in the precons none of this would have happened.
Kinda wish they would just errata it with a new printing that made it only apply to spells targeting it and not abilities but that’s just a dream unfortunately
Hay loves the videos and keeps making great content
Weird how they made this stupid bird and didnt notice zero mana interactions that would trigger him... When lightning greaves is like the most popular card in commander...
Buys boosters based on promoted cards.
Pulls the pushed cards. Hype!
Half the decks you build have a banned card a month later.
TCGs never change.
**sips tea**
I do not think that it is excusable that what's apparently _multiple people_ paid as professionals to design cards for the tcg did not at _all_ consider free ability activations to target Nadu. Either it is a lie that multiple people saw the card, or they are so understaffed and overworked that they cannot do their Jobs properly anymore.
Sure, this is 'just' one massive mistake. But Chrysalis for draft was another abomination - one of, if not _the_ highest winrate card in limited at common. Truly, it does seem as if balance is entirely slippong from their repertoire.
The easiest ways to guarantee your card has a home are to make it unique and to make it intricate, not to simply make it powerful. "Ramp or draw whenever you do basically anything" is so generic it's basically a non card in terms of deckbuilding.
Nadu its simply a bad designed card. Wotc dont care about test cards anymore only care about its greed. 😢
Post 2020 Magic is garbage. WotC don't care about the game. They just want to make a quick profit for the shareholders and that's all. For all we know, as soon as the game turns non-profitable, they will discontinue it. My only advice would be to stop playing competitively. Your chances of making it to the big scene are abysmal, so instead of spending 1000 dollars on a competitive deck that will be worthless in a couple of years, spend half the money, build 10 different low-power decks and play with your friends as much as you like.